‘Fake news’ nurse hired to debunk online cancer myths
A LEADING cancer charity has hired a “fake news” nurse amid fears sufferers are being duped by quack cures.
Macmillan Cancer Support has hired a digital specialist amid concern that patients are increasingly turning to websites promoting bogus cures and false information.
The new role will be solely dedicated to answering questions from people affected by cancer online, on Macmillan’s social media platforms and online forums.
Some sites have claimed baking soda can cure breast cancer, with others frightening patients off treatment by claiming chemotherapy kills more people than cancer.
Prof Jane Maher, the charity’s joint chief medical officer, said: “It’s completely natural for people to want to Google their diagnosis when they’re told they have cancer.
“But with countless unverified statistics, fake news and horror stories on the internet, ending up on the wrong website can be really worrying. This can leave people pinning their hopes on a dangerous bogus cure or underestimating the benefit of routine treatments,” she said.
Surveys by the charity found that 42 per cent of those diagnosed with cancer looked up their disease online, with one in eight saying they did so because they did not understand what doctors had told them.
The most recent Cancer Patient Experience Survey found that more than a quarter of people with the disease said they did not receive easy-to-understand written information about their diagnosis.
Investigations by The Daily Telegraph have found patients being offered alternative remedies which experts described as “extremely dangerous”.
They include black salve, a highly caustic solution, as a cure for throat and skin cancers, a salt treatment for lung cancer, and the use of industrialstrength bleach to treat autism, Ebola and HIV.
Earlier this year an online pharmacy in the UK admitted selling a highly potent bleaching agent which was being marketed as a “revolutionary” cure for a host of diseases, though it can cause vomiting and breathing problems.